


Vampire Fetish

by rose_gardens



Series: Twilight But It's Yumikuri [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Twilight Fusion, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Don't Examine This Too Closely, F/F, Human/Vampire Relationship, I'm changing a lot of stuff, No Lesbians Die, No Love Triangle, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Twilight Renaissance, Useless Lesbians, a lot of stuff doesn't make sense, bear with me, but the sparkling stays, especially about the wolves, i mean technically yes but ymir's undead, the vampires are a bit more accurate to common lore too, who doesn't want to get topped by a vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2020-11-23 23:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 18,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20897603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_gardens/pseuds/rose_gardens
Summary: Historia's the new girl in a boring, dreary town. There's nothing very interesting about the place - oh, except for the mysterious sexy girl in her biology class who doesn't have a heartbeat and disappears whenever the sun is out. The one that her best friend doesn't want her anywhere near. Sounds fun, right?





	1. Living It Up In Rainy Town

**Author's Note:**

> Help, I've been swallowed by the Twilight renaissance. I'm changing a lot of stuff from Twilight canon, mainly about the wolf pack and Jacob - no love triangle here. (sorry, erekuri shippers).

Historia didn't speak to her father for the entire car trip to the airport. She wasn't angry with him, not exactly - rather, she felt a sort of apathy towards him. Rod Reiss had given her life, but he hadn't been around for most of it. Even when he became her primary carer, he was still emotionally distant, leaving the raising of Historia to whichever adult was in the vicinity. His eldest daughter Frieda was Historia's favourite parent figure.

Historia wished that Frieda was the one she was going off to live with, but alas, Frieda's house didn't have space for anyone else, nor did Frieda have the time to look after her 16 year old half-sister. Instead, Historia was going up to live with her estranged uncle Uri, who lived in some dismal coastal town near the forest. Historia had some memories of staying at his house over summers long past. It had rained almost the whole time. 

She bid Rod a tearless goodbye at the airport, and boarded the plane without looking back. 

There wasn't much to do on the 4-hour flight. There was only one book in Historia's carry-on, and watching the in-flight movies made her travelsick. Historia spent most of that flight annoyed by the two loud preteen boys behind her, and when the plane landed at Paradis airport she was glad to be on solid ground.

Historia was greeted by her uncle inside the airport, near the baggage carousels. 

"Historia?" He asked. 

"Yeah. Uncle Uri?"

He nodded. He picked up her suitcase and carried it out to the car.

"So how's your dad been?" Uri asked on the car ride to his house. 

"Rod's been fine," Historia answered. She heard Uri take a sharp intake of breath, possibly caught offguard by her use of her father's first name. 

"Ah. Well, Kenny's kid's coming around a bit later with a truck I bought off them. I figured since you wouldn't appreciate me driving you to school."

Kenny was the name of Uri's boyfriend, and the reason the rest of the family didn't speak to him.

"You bought me a _car_?" Historia exclaimed. 

"It was secondhand." Uri pulled into the driveway of the old house he lived in. "Consider it a welcome gift to Paradis."

"Oh my god, thank you," Historia said. Uri paid it no mind and motioned for her to get out of the car, which she did.

She immediately set to work unpacking the things she'd brought with her, hanging up her clothes in the closet of the spare room. Most of her wardrobe was bought to withstand the heat of desert summers, and she figured she'd need a shopping trip if she wanted to not freeze. She was hanging up her flag above the window when she saw a red truck pull up in the driveway, next to Uri's car. Figuring that was the car Uri had bought, Historia headed outside. 

Three people got out of the truck; one was a tired-looking man not much taller than Historia but quite clearly older, perhaps in his thirties, the second a boy with messy hair and goth (or was it emo? Historia could never tell) clothes, and the third a cool girl with defined muscles under her shirt.

"Thanks for this, Levi," Uri said. The short man, Levi, nodded and passed a key to Uri, who passed it to Historia. "Are those your kids?"

"Wish they weren't," Levi mumbled. He followed Uri inside to finish up the paperwork, leaving the kids standing awkwardly outside. The girl, fed up, sighed and followed the adults. The boy caught on to Historia's shock.

"Don't worry, Mikasa's like that with everyone," he said with a laugh. "It's not just you."

Historia laughed nervously, and put her hands in her pockets. "I'm Historia. By the way."

"Eren. We used to play together as kids."

"Oh, yeah, I remember." Historia had vague memories of playing with two local kids when she stayed in Paradis, but that had been a good ten years ago now. 

"Wanna try out the car?" Eren offered.

"Oh, hell yes!" Historia ran into the truck, Eren getting into the passenger seat. She ran her hands across the truck's dashboard, admiring it.

"You do know how to drive, right?" Eren asked. 

"Yeah, I have a licence," Historia said. "This is _so_ cool."

"Oh, and-" Eren opened the glovebox. He pulled out a CD. "Housewarming gift. I don't know if you like metal or not, but Levi doesn't so uh, welcome to Paradis."

"Oh, thank you," Historia said as she took the CD. She wasn't the biggest fan of metal, but it was the thought that counted. "So, uh, you're an Ackerman? You don't really look like the rest of your family. No offence..."

"No, yeah, I'm adopted," Eren said. "Mikasa is too, I guess, but she's also Levi's cousin or whatever so she was always an Ackerman."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Historia said.

"Don't worry, I get asked that a lot. You're not the first person who's asked." Eren smiled, and Historia smiled back. 

Mikasa tapped on the window. Eren jumped.

"Eren, get out. We're going." 

"Okay, fine." Eren rolled his eyes. 

"See you at school?" Historia asked.

"No, we go to school in the next town over," Eren said. 

"Oh, _great_." Historia would have loved to have known somebody at her new school, but _no_.

Eren smiled at her again, and got out of the car. He waved before he left, earning a wave back.

Historia spent that evening dreading the following day. She was starting school more than halfway through the school year. Everyone else would already have their established friendships and she would stick out like a sore thumb. She shared these worries with Frieda over the phone that night.

_"Everyone feels like that in highschool,"_ Frieda told her. _"When you graduate, none of this will matter."_

"But that's not until next year," Historia complained.

_"Stop whining, Christa,"_ Frieda said, using the nickname she'd given her when she was little. _"I'm sure someone at your school will be nice."_

"Okay, bye, I love you," Historia said before she hung up. She put her phone down and flopped facefirst on her bed. She hoped she'd make a friend. At least she was starting anew, right?


	2. Short Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia arrives at her new school and is introduced to a rather... interesting family.

Historia drove the truck to school on Monday. The windscreen wipers were going the whole time, and Historia regretted not bringing a rain jacket to school with her. She had an umbrella, which would have to do. She parked her truck in the school carpark, and got out. The truck dwarfed the smaller cars beside it, and Historia felt slightly conscious of how it stood out. Historia wasn't about standing out. She had mastered the art of simply being the kind sibling who didn't overshadow the legitimate Reisses but didn't bring any shame to the family's name.

But that didn't really matter here in Paradis, did it? She was at a new school where nobody would associate her with her father. She could be whoever she wanted here.

"Hey, you're the new girl, right?"

Historia spun around. A lanky girl in a flannel shirt stood behind her, a sandwich in her hand.

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool. I'm Sasha, I'm supposed to show you around."

The morning involved Sasha showing Historia around the school and going off on tangents about various things, often with a mouthfull of sandwich. Sasha was in most of Historia's classes, barring Biology.

"So if you didn't have me, you'd probably be sitting over there by the water cooler, or worse, in the toilet," Sasha explained as they entered the cafeteria. "But luckily, I have friends and we sit at a table. Hey, that's them. CONNIE, HEY!"

A boy with a buzzcut looked up and waved them over. "New student?"

"Yeah, this is Historia. She's from Maria."

"Aren't people from Maria supposed to be, like, supermodels?"

"Hey, that's not nice," Sasha said.

"Hey, that's not what I meant, you're not ugly, you're cute as, you're just..." he gestured with his hands, indicating height. "Short."

Historia laughed nervously. "Yeah, I know. It runs in the family."

"You think your life is hard? I'm a highschool junior in size 4 nikes," Sasha said as she sat down at the table.

"Actually, I'm size 5," Historia corrected, but she appreciated the joke.

Over the lunch break Historia was introduced to the other people who sat with them; Marco Bott was friendly and had freckles, while Jean Kirstein was unfriendly and had an ugly haircut.

"Oh my god, it's them," Marco said. Historia looked up to see a group of four students enter the cafeteria. Two were boys, two were girls, and there was something about them that stopped Historia from looking away.

"Who are they?" Historia asked. Her gaze lingered on one girl who was sitting on the cafeteria chair in a relaxed manner.

"They're the Fritz kids," Sasha answered. "They're adopted siblings, which is why they don't look like each other or share last names. They moved here a couple of years ago."

"They're super weird too," Jean continued. "They barely talk to anyone that's not in their cult-family."

"Except Reiner. He's cool. He brings beer to parties and he never gets a hangover," Connie said. "One time Sasha slapped him in the face."

"Yeah, but we're friends now. Anyway, the other three are kinda quiet and yeah, _super_ weird. They live out in the forest in this massive house. Their mom is basically like Batman, because she's rich and has a whole heap of kids. Except she's not that rich. She's just like, regular rich. And nothing like Batman. She takes the kids out hiking whenever the weather's nice."

"Wouldn't that affect their attendance?" Historia asked.

"The weather isn't nice very often," Marco said. "It rains like, 90 percent of the time."

Sasha continued. "Reiner's the blond, he's friendly enough. The tall guy next to him? That's Bertholt. He sweats a lot and doesn't leave Reiner's side. I think they're a couple but I don't really know."

Historia must not have been very good at hiding her shock, because Jean jumped in with an answer.

"I know, it's gross. They're not actually related but we don't talk about it."

"The blonde girl, not much taller than you? That's Annie," Marco said.

"She's _terrifying_," Connie said. "I heard she's been to juvie."

"That's just a rumour," Marco said. "But she's still... cold."

"Whatever. That last girl? The one with the brown hair? She's _definitely_ been to juvie. Ymir's rude and a delinquent and every other word you could use to describe her."

Nobody rushed to defend Ymir.

"Is she really that bad?" Historia asked. She earned a chorus of "yep"s and a couple of "yes"s and one "yeah" - that was from a random passerby.

"Hey, pass me your schedule. I wanna see if we have classes together," Connie said. She passed it to him so he could look.

"Ymir was held back a year, so she's in our grade," Marco said. "Earlier this year, she got into a fight and was suspended for a week."

"Poor Daz. He was never the same."

A silence followed. They'd told her all she needed to know about the Fritz family.

"So anyway, Historia." Jean put his iced coffee aside. "Why did you move here? Paradis is like, the worst town."

"Oh." Historia hadn't expected to be put on the spot like that. "I moved here to live with my uncle. Because my dad got a new job that means he has to move around a lot, and I didn't want that. I wanted stability."

"That makes sense, I guess," Marco said. "Although Paradis isn't the worst town."

"Yeah, the worst town is Stromberg over the river," Sasha said. Historia recognised the name as Paradis High's rival school.

"Oh, no," Connie said. "You have Biology with Mrs Rolfe?"

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong with her?" Historia's heart hammered. Was she stuck with a bad teacher? She'd had a few before, and those classes were hell.

"No, she's fine, it's just..." Everyone around the table shared a glance. "You'll see."

Historia didn't like the sound of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, Ymir is Edward, Annie is Rosalie and Bert is Jasper, and Reiner is a combination of Alice and Emmet. YES Dina is their mother. YES Zeke is in this. YES I'm planning to do something with the whole Grisha thing but don't ask because that's supposed to be a big surprise.


	3. Biology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia sits next to the aforementioned weird girl in her Biology class, and discovers why Ymir is known for being weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Smeyer why are the Cullens pretending to be siblings while also dating. Smeyer come back I just want to talk

Historia found out why her newfound friends had warned her about Biology when she arrived at the classroom. None of them had Biology with her, so she was naturally worried.

She discovered the source of their distress when she entered the room and saw that there was only one free seat, and it was next to a tall and beautiful girl sitting carelessly with a pencil in her mouth.

Historia's heart rate spiked as she walked across the room. Time seemed to slow down. When she put her books down on the desk, Ymir looked up at her. Her mouth opened, probably to make some rude comment, but she froze.

Historia couldn't move either. Ymir's eyes were a stunning amber colour, she noticed. Ymir closed her mouth and looked away out the window, moving her leg so Historia had space to sit down.

The teacher walked in five minutes late. She was an older woman with an unforgivable perm, and she talked in a voice that could cure insomnia. As she explained the lesson, Historia snuck glances at Ymir. The girl in question had clenched fists, and was breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Historia asked, channelling the kind and caring persona that made all her teachers comment on how she was a joy to have in class. Ymir couldn't be _all_ bad, nobody really was.

Historia touched Ymir's fist, and immediately recoiled. It was cold. And not just cold like she hadn't worn gloves on a cold day, cold like something that had never held heat. Cold like metal in a dark room. _Cold like a corpse._

Ymir pulled her fist away and stared at Historia. "Don't touch me," she hissed through her teeth.

"O-okay," Historia said. She turned her attention back to the front of the classroom and tried her hardest not to look at Ymir.

The lesson ended, and Historia couldn't have been more glad to leave the classroom. She made her way straight to her locker, and grabbed her bag.

In the office, she stopped - Ymir stood at the desk, arguing with the secretary. Historia could hear their conversation from where she stood.

"Please? Any class, it doesn't matter, just not Biology."

"I'm sorry, but it's too late in the year to get a course change and you can't drop your subject without parental permission."

Ymir was trying to switch out of Biology. Historia wasn't sure what she'd done to push Ymir so far that she wanted to leave the class, but it didn't do much for her self-esteem.

_She already hates you. She barely even knows you and she hates you already._

Historia speedwalked past, not moving her eyes from the door. She heard Ymir stop talking, and felt her staring at her.

On the way back to her truck, she saw the other Fritz kids. The boys sat in the front seats of a flashy Mercedes, while Annie sat in the back, looking at something on her phone.

Historia tore herself away and got into the truck, driving home.

Uri wasn't home when she got back. He was probably working - Uri worked in the local council, and often stayed late. Historia didn't mind. She was fine with time to herself. It was time for her to do homework (yes, she already had homework. On the first day).

Half an hour later, the phone on the wall started ringing. Historia stood up and answered it.

"Hello, Reiss residence, who is it?"

_"Who's this?"_ A gruff voice asked. _"'ey wait, is this Historia? Rod's kid?"_

"Uh, yeah."

The voice on the other end of the phone laughed. _"Welcome to Paradis, kid. Is your uncle in?"_

"No," Historia looked out the window to see the driveway empty. "He's out. Who is this?"

_"Kenny Ackerman. I'm seeing your uncle."_

"Oh, I know. Um, do you want me to tell him you called?"

Kenny laughed. _"Don't worry. I'll call back later."_

He hung up the phone, and Historia put it back on the wall. She didn't do much more of her homework, instead opting to scroll through Instagram. She saw a new post from one of her friends in Maria - Sibyl had taken a photo from a party.

_Wow!_ Historia had written below. _I wish I was there_

She looked up from her phone when she heard a car pull up. Looking out the window revealed that it was Uri's car. Her uncle entered the house a few moments after.

"How was your day at school?" He asked.

"It was fine," Historia said, as cheerfully as she could. "I made some friends."

"That's good," Uri said.

"Oh, and Kenny called earlier."

"I'll call him back now," Uri said. "It's probably important."

He walked over to the phone and picked it up. Historia decided that she didn't want to eavesdrop on her uncle's conversation, and took her things to her room upstairs.

Uri came up a few minutes later, having finished his call.

"Was everything okay?" Historia asked.

"He wanted to know if I was coming around to play cards on Saturday," Uri said. "You're welcome to come too, if you want. Levi's kids are about your age."

"Yeah, I know. I was talking to Eren yesterday. He's cool."

"I guess so."

Over dinner, Historia told Uri about her newfound friends. To her surprise, he knew most of their families. Mrs Bott was an active volunteer in the town, who would always show up on your doorstep with a casserole should she hear any trouble has befallen you. The Brauses lived outside of town and hunted deer. The Springers ran the car rental place. The Kirsteins were an old farming family.

"Do you know the Fritz family?" Historia asked. Uri took a slow drink of his cup of tea, and looked off at some point in the distance.

"I know them," he said. "They're... odd."

"Ymir's in my class," Historia said.

"The tall girl? I've heard things about her. It's best you don't get involved."

"What's wrong with the family, anyway?" Historia asked, pressing further. "Why don't people trust them?"

"I think it's mainly the incest thing," Uri said, "though the Fritzes only moved here a few years ago, and you know how small towns can be about outsiders. I've met Dina a couple of times, and she's nice enough."

"Oh." Historia couldn't help but think of Ymir's body language during Biology. How cold she'd been - both emotionally and physically. Like she was made of stone. 

It was an image that stayed with her when she fell asleep that night.


	4. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia finally gets a chance to talk to Ymir, but that doesn't clear any of the mystery up.

Ymir wasn't at school the next day. Her siblings were; they sat at their table in their own little world, barely acknowledging the rest of the rest of the cafeteria.

Historia didn't want to think that Ymir trying to change out of Biology yesterday and her absence today were connected. That made her sound paranoid. Ymir wasn't skipping school because of _her_, she was skipping school for some other reason. Or she was sick.

Yeah. She was sick.

"Historia. Historia?"

She turned back to the conversation at the table. "Sorry?"

"We were talking about going down to the beach next week," Marco said. "Are you coming?"

"Um - maybe. I don't know, we might be busy."

"You should totally come," Sasha said, her mouth full of food. "There's gonna be a bonfire."

"Well, I'm not coming," Jean said. "Have fun freezing your asses off. I'll be at home, where it isn't raining."

"Who shat in your cereal?" Connie asked. "Anyway, even if the beach is shitty it's the only one we have, so we make do."

"I'll ask my uncle if I can come," Historia said. She'd never been to a beach on a rainy day before, and she wanted to spend time with her new friends. "It sounds fun."

Ymir didn't come to school for the rest of the week. Historia nearly asked her siblings the reason, but couldn't work up the courage to. They didn't give off a welcoming vibe.

The weekend soon came around, and Historia seemed to have been integrated into her new friend group. She'd been accepted into two groupchats (one with Jean and one without), had secured a full-time place at the table, and was currently being involved in the plan to go down to the beach. It was nice. She'd never been a part of a friend group before.

Uri didn't end up going to the Ackermans' house on Saturday. Mikasa had come down with a debilitating mystery illness, and in the off chance that it was contagious they weren't allowing any visitors to come around. Not wanting to cancel their game of cards, Kenny had come around with a six-pack of beers.

"She's been outta commission since Thursday," Kenny said. "Sick as a dog." He let out a laugh.

"Is she going to be okay?" Historia asked. She'd sat at the table with them, working on her homework.

"Ah, she'll be alright in a couple days. She's a strong kid. She used to be able to carry _six chairs_ at once."

""Used to"? What happened?"

"She can carry ten now. Give a couple of months and she'll probably be able to carry double that."

Historia had seen Mikasa's muscles the day she'd dropped off the car, and could fully believe that she could lift that many chairs.

By Sunday, she'd finished the book she'd brought with her, and decided to take a trip down to the Paradis library. She was mildly disappointed at the meager stocking, however. She wasn't much interested in fishing or gardening. She figured she'd have to find a bookstore the next time she went into town, or check to see what the school library held.

On Monday, Ymir was back. Historia did her best to ignore her, trying to focus instead on her new friends and the snow that was coming down. She'd never seen snow before.

"It's wetter than I thought it would be," she told Sasha. "Like rain."

Sasha laughed. "Yeah, but you can't do this with rain."

And she picked up a handful of snow, rolled it into a ball, and threw it at the back of Jean's head. The iced coffee he'd been holding fell to the ground, the lid snapping off and causing it to spill all over the place.

"Shit!" He yelled. He spun around to glare at Sasha, who was doubled over laughing. Historia grabbed Sasha's wrist, and pulled her away as he chased them. Running while holding hands was hard, however, and Sasha slipped on some ice and fell over. Jean threw snow at her, but it didn't stop her laughter.

Historia had a feeling that she was being watched, and turned around. There Ymir was, staring directly at her. Historia pretended not to notice.

\--

"She's still staring at you," Connie said. They were sitting in the cafeteria, animosity from the snowball incident as good as gone.

"Is she?" Historia didn't turn around. "Does she look angry?"

She didn't want to turn around.

"No, just... staring. What happened? Did you piss her off or something?"

"I don't think so," Historia said. "She just doesn't like me, for some reason."

That afternoon, Historia had Biology again, dread building in her stomach. As guessed, Ymir was in her seat, and staring at Historia as she walked in. Historia drew in a deep breath, and sat down next to her. As she had the week before, Ymir sat tensely next to her. Historia did her best to ignore her and focus on the lesson the teacher was explaining. The phases of mitosis. They were supposed to look at three unlabelled slides, and identify them. Worst of all, it was a partner project. Historia looked sidelong at Ymir, and gently cleared her throat to try and get her attention. When that didn't work, Historia went up to the front of the class where the microscopes were, grabbed one, and went back to the table, where she slammed it on the desk. It made a loud thud that caught the attention of almost everyone in the class.

"Sorry," Historia fake-apologised. The class went back to their own experiments. All except for Ymir. "Listen," Historia hissed. "If we're going to pass this class, then we need to work together. And we can't do that if you're ignoring me." She was proud of how well that came out.

Ymir grimaced at her. "Okay, princess," she said. "I'll help."

They took turns with the microscope, identifying the different phases. Ymir was surprisingly good at it.

"Have you done this before?" Historia asked, putting on her nice voice. Ymir gave her a curt nod.

"Yeah. I was held back. This one's in telaphase."

Historia looked through the microscope and, sure enough, Ymir was correct.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Historia continued.

"Why are you being so-" Ymir made a disgusted face, "-nice?"

"I don't know, why are you being so rude?" Historia snapped back. Ymir smirked.

"You're just pretending to be nice to try and get me to like you, right? Because that's not going to work."

"Fine, okay? You're getting on my nerves and I want you to stop," Historia said.

"That's better. Stop trying to be something you're not."

Historia understood what Uri had meant when he'd told her to stay away from Ymir. She really did feel like she was trying to lure Historia into delinquency.

"So I never got to really ask you for your name," Historia said.

"Ymir," she replied, "but you probably knew that. I'm something of a celebrity around here." She flashed a grin and exposed a set of too-perfect white teeth, like a supermodel might have.

"Yeah, I have heard. I'm Historia, by the way. I just moved here from-"

"From Maria. My brother told me. He knows everything."

Historia nearly asked her which one, but that would give away the fact that she'd already gossiped about the Fritz family.

"So, I'm guessing you have a good story," Ymir said as she started packing up the microscope.

"Hm?"

"The fake-sweet personality? The sudden move from sunny Maria to rainytown assfuck nowhere? What are you hiding?"

"Oh, I'm not _hiding_ anything," Historia quickly said. "I just moved to live with my uncle, that's all."

"Parents kicked you out?"

"No, my dad got a new job, so he has to move around a lot. All his other kids are either out of school or don't care, but I wanted to finish school in one place, and I wasn't moving back in with my mom, so I came down here." She shuffled in her seat. "I actually haven't told anyone about my parents before."

"The youngest child of separated parents? That makes the sweet act thing understandable, then." Ymir stood up, and carried the microscope back to its trolley.

They went their separate ways after class, Historia feeling a strange sensation in her chest. It was a part nice feeling, and a part not-so-nice feeling. It was nice because Historia had finally gotten Ymir to talk to her. And it was not-so-nice because there was something _off_ about Ymir.

Historia didn't know what it was, but she wanted to find out.


	5. Adrenaline Rush (It's Very Common)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia doesn't see the car. But she does see Ymir standing on the other side of the carpark, and not right next to her. The only explanation is that Ymir moved faster than humanly possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (You can google it)

The snow that had fallen the day before had continued overnight, freezing the roads. Historia had been mildly disappointed when she'd seen the road outside her uncle's house frozen over, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe she'd been looking forward to school. _That_ was a first. 

"I'm not letting you drive that truck to school today," Uri said when Historia came downstairs. 

"What?"

"I'll give you a lift. Until we can get some proper tires fitted for the ice, it's best you don't drive it."

Historia nodded, understanding. She'd never had to drive on icy roads before, but she didn't want to risk getting into an accident. 

The car trip was quiet. Uri didn't listen to music in the car, and Historia didn't want to be rude and put headphones in.

"I heard there were some bear attacks in the woods nearby," Uri said. 

"Bear attacks?"

"Well, that's what Kenny thinks it is. Hikers have been going missing on the trails, and if they're found then it's usually too late. Stay safe." Uri parked the car, a few metres away from the front of the school. "I didn't think you'd want any of your new friends to see you get dropped off like a kid."

"Oh, yeah," Historia laughed. "Thank you!" She said as she got out of the car, nearly slipping on the ice but catching herself in time. She waved at her uncle as he drove off, and walked into the school grounds. 

Several people were standing out in the car park, chatting amongst themselves. The Fritzes stood by their shiny silver car in the closest non-disabled parking space to the school. Historia caught sight of Sasha, leaning against the door of her car and talking to Connie. She waved her over, and Historia was about to come when she heard a screech and a car horn - when she turned she saw a red van hurtling towards her, and a panicked driver trying to swerve. 

What happened next was beyond Historia's ability to explain. She fell to the ground, hit by something that was not the van. When she looked up, she saw Ymir, a concerned look on her face and a large dent in the side of the van. 

The strangest thing was that Ymir had, just a few seconds ago, been standing with her brothers and sister by their car, on the other side of the carpark.

"How did you-"

Ymir didn't stick around to listen to Historia. She was gone in a blink, and then Historia was swamped by the people who had witnessed the accident. Somebody got her to her feet - Marco, she thought, though she couldn't see him properly - and got everyone to clear some space until the ambulance arrived. 

Still standing by their car, Historia could see Ymir's siblings looking on with looks that ranged from anger to concern, but no sign of Ymir.

\--

Historia hadn't been in the hospital for long. The doctor had looked at her eyes and decided that she didn't have any physical brain damage, which she was glad for. She tried calling Frieda, but she was in class and had her phone turned off. She'd have to call back later.

Uri had left work early to come and pick her up, and to do the hospital paperwork. 

"I think I know what you mean about not driving in the snow," Historia said with a laugh that Uri didn't quite return. "They would have killed me if it hadn't been for..."

She trailed off as she spotted the very girl who had saved her life. Ymir was standing in one of the hospital corridors, listening as a youngish blonde woman was scolding her. Historia picked up on some of the conversation.

"You need to be more careful... blown our cover... move again? No."

The woman stopped mid sentence when she somehow picked up on the fact that Historia was listening.

"Dina, hello," Uri said. He walked over to them, Historia following and trying not to look Ymir in the eyes. "Historia, this is Dina Fritz, and I'm sure you know Ymir."

"Hi, I'm glad that your niece is okay," the woman, Dina, said. "We were coming to make sure you were alright - my daughter witnessed the whole thing, and she was very worried."

Ymir didn't _look _worried.

"Thank you," Historia whispered, though she wasn't sure who she was thanking. "Ymir, can I talk to you? Alone?" 

Ymir and her mother gave each other a look, before Dina left them. Uri left too, saying he had paperwork to fill out. 

"What the hell was that?" Historia asked as soon as the adults were out of earshot. 

"Well that's one way to thank me for saving your life," Ymir grumbled. 

"You stopped that car with your bare hands," Historia said. "And you had to have moved quickly, because you were standing by your car-" 

"No, I was standing next to you, and I pushed you out of the way."

Historia could distinctly remember a hand-sized dent in the van. "I remember-"

"You hit your head pretty hard. I wouldn't be surprised if you remembered things wrong."

"I _didn't_."

Ymir gave her a disgusted look. "Nobody will believe you."

"I won't tell anyone," Historia said, "just tell me the truth."

Ymir laughed. "Good luck. You won't find anything."

She walked away. 

Historia stayed home that day, but she hardly rested. She made calls to her sister, and to her father and stepmother, but not to her mother. She figured that nobody would have told her anyway, given how little the woman cared for her. 

Historia had become a celebrity since the accident. For starters, the boy who had nearly hit her with his van - Thomas, Historia remembered - had been following her around and apologising every few minutes. In almost all of her classes, somebody asked her for her account of what happened, to which she just said that she didn't want to talk about it. To her friends, however, she told the story that Ymir had told her.

"She pushed me out of the way," Historia said. "Maybe she isn't quite so bad."

"Ymir was standing next to you?" Connie asked. "I thought she was with her siblings by the car."

The statement chilled Historia to the bone.

"You're probably just remembering wrong, Connie," Sasha said with a mouthfull of food. "'Cause I remember Ymir standing near the van afterwards."

Historia looked over her shoulder at the Fritzes' lunch table, and met Ymir's gaze.

_There's something up with you, and I'm going to find out what it is._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, I was unable to wedge in the amazing line of "It's the fluorescents", as in this fic the vampires' eyes don't change colour as often as the Twilight vampires do. I will try and pay homage to it at some point.


	6. Cold Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia goes down to the beach for a day trip, where she meets up with some family friends.

A rainstorm came in on Wednesday, and washed all the snow away. Historia wasn't sad to see it go. She'd had enough of snow to last her a lifetime. Speaking of the cold, Ymir had gone back to ignoring Historia. And speaking of Ymir, Historia had begun to dream of her. 

They were not elaborate dreams, and certainly not centred around Ymir. It was just that Ymir seemed to frequently show up in them. In one dream, Ymir had been the new girl and Historia had discovered that she had killed one of her friends. In another, they had been abducted by aliens together and made the queens of a space empire. In another, they had joined the military to fight what could only have been described as zombies that were actually gods. 

On Thursday, Jean tried to ask Historia to go to prom with him.

"Listen, you're really nice and all, but I don't think I'm going to prom," Historia said. 

"Oh, that's okay, I guess," Jean said. He acted like he wasn't upset by it, but Historia could see that she'd hurt his feelings.

She was cornered by Marco after school. "Look, if Jean made you uncomfortable or anything, I am so, so sorry," he said. He seemed embarrased by his friend's behaviour.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry, I probably let him down too harshly-"

"No, he'll be alright, he's done this with pretty much everyone else we're friends with at some point. He's a drama queen, don't let him get to you." 

Historia smiled. She knew the type of people Jean was like; she'd been acquainted with a few back in Maria. None of them had asked her out, though. 

"So, are you still coming down to the beach with us on Saturday?" Marco asked. "Hopefully it shouldn't be raining."

"Yeah, I think I will," Historia said. It would be fun, to do something with her new friends, and hopefully take her mind off Ymir.

\--

Saturday came around quickly, and the teens all bundled into one car and drove down to the beach. It was far from a nice day, but at least it wasn't raining. None of them knew how to surf, and the water was freezing cold, so they decided to just muck around on the beach and look in the rock pools and that.

"So do any of you guys have a date for prom?" Connie asked, trying not to fall off the rock he was standing on. He was met with a chorus of "no"s and "nah"s, to which he responded, "same!"

"I'm kind of thinking about asking someone," Marco said, "but he'll probably say no."

"For the love of God, just ask Jean out already and stop torturing us!" Sasha cried. She put an arm over her forehead melodramatically. ""I cannot ask my best friend out, for what if it drives a wedge between our friendship?" He's asked plenty of people out, and is still friends with them, so just do it!"

"Okay, fine, but only if you ask Connie out."

"What?" Connie was distracted, poking at something in the rock pool with a stick, and hadn't heard them. 

"Nothing!" Marco said cheerfully, and Sasha glared at him. Historia felt awkward, and turned around. When she did, she saw three figures climbing over the rocks in the distance. She squinted, trying to make them out. She recognised one of them.

"Hey, Eren!" She called out. That caught his attention, and he climbed over to them.

"Historia, I haven't seen you in ages," he said. He looked at her friends.

"I came down with some friends with school. How's Mikasa doing?"

Eren looked thoughtful. "Better," he settled on. "A lot better. Still not well enough to come out today, but better."

"That's good," Historia said. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"Same as you, pretty much. Some friends and I decided to come down to the beach." Eren shrugged. He turned around, and waved over his friends. The first to join them was a kid their age, with a cheery smile. "That's Armin. He's pretty much one of my only friends at school."

Armin waved at her, but didn't say anything.

"Is this the girl you never shut up about?" A girl a few years younger than them came up next. Her hair was dyed blue.

"This is Ash, my other sister, and proof of why you can't trust fourteen year olds," Eren said, rolling his eyes. 

Ash fake gasped and slapped his arm. "I'm fifteen!" She said. 

"It's true though. You seemed really excited to see Historia again." Historia looked to Armin, who was the one who had spoken. His voice was more feminine than she'd expected. 

"Well, it's nice to know I've got another friend," Historia said. Secretly, however, she was a little disappointed. She didn't want to lose Eren's friendship to a crush. 

"Who are these guys?" Sasha asked. She walked over.

"Oh, these are the Ackermans," Historia said. "They're family friends."

"Huh. Okay." Sasha shoved her hands in her pockets. "Where do you guys go to school?" 

"Stromberg. Over the river," Armin said. 

"Do you guys want to stay for a while?" Marco offered. "We're going to build a driftwood fire."

"A driftwood fire?" Ash asked. She looked curious.

"Yeah. When you burn the wood, the flames are blue."

"Woah. Eren, can we stay?" Ash was now excited.

"Yeah, we can stay," Eren said.

"Is nobody going to ask how I feel?" Armin asked. He didn't get an answer.

With their three new additions, the group set to work finding decent pieces of driftwood to make a bonfire with. 

"So you guys come down here often?" Armin asked.

"Yeah, every now and then," Sasha answered. "There was going to be more of us, but Jean didn't want to come and Reiner was going on a camping trip with his family."

"You invited Reiner?" Historia asked.

"Yeah, he's fun at parties. He never hosts them though. The Fritz family is like, super weird about that sort of thing. I mean they're weird in general, but-"

"What did you say?" Ash asked. Her excited smile had dropped.

"Reiner. He's fun at parties?"

"No, the other thing."

"About the Fritz family being super weird?"

Ash nodded.

"The Fritzes don't come here," Armin said. He didn't elaborate more on that, and nobody else brought it up again.

"Hey, Historia, can we take a walk?" Eren asked, suddenly. 

"Oh, sure," Historia said. She hoped that Eren wasn't planning to confess his love or anything. She didn't want to deal with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ash belongs to my friend AnimeAddict2018 on here and Wattpad. I'm hoping I got her age + personality right.


	7. Wolf Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren tells Historia a story about his family's ancestors.

They were several metres away from the others when Eren started to talk.

"I just wanted to say, I don't have a crush on you," he said. "I don't feel that way about you."

"Oh, thank god," Historia said with a laugh. "I was scared, for a minute - I didn't want to have to turn you down and ruin our friendship."

"Me neither," Eren said. "I really like you. You know, as a friend."

"Hey, Eren," Historia asked. He looked at her, listening. "What did Armin mean, with "the Fritzes don't come here"? What did that mean?"

Eren looked straight ahead, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone," he said.

"I'm good at keeping secrets," Historia offered. "I won't tell anyone."

Eren let out a breath. "Okay. So, Kenny used to tell us a story when we were kids, something that his grandfather used to tell him. He said that when our ancestors were fleeing persecution in the 1300's, they stayed in this area. But their hosts were... odd. One by one, our ancestors realised that they were changing. And on the full moon, they transformed into _wolves_." 

Historia laughed. "So you're telling me that your family is descended from werewolves?"

"Yeah, it's just a story made up to scare us from trusting strangers too much," Eren said quickly. "But Kenny also says that his grandfather told him about a strange encounter he had in the woods. There was a family that looked exactly like humans... but they weren't. Not really. They were fast, and strong, and dead. Grandpa Ackerman called them the _Alukah _\- vampires."

Historia thought of Ymir's ice-cold hand, and the way she had stopped the car, and shivered. "Tell me more."

Eren continued. "Supposedly, this family was different to their peers. They didn't hunt humans, only animals. So they made a treaty. The Ackermans wouldn't turn the _Alukah _over to the local government, and the _Alukah_ wouldn't hurt any human."

"And what about the Fritzes? Are they like the _Alukah_?"

"They're the same ones," Eren said, and Historia's blood ran cold. "Allegedly."

"But the Fritzes just moved here..."

"Or, they just moved back. Don't worry, I don't actually believe that crap. They're probably just descended from a bunch of weirdos. Anyway, I'm not allowed anywhere near the Fritzes, and they're not allowed anywhere near us. Levi would skin me alive if he found out I could have been here at the same time as one of them."

Historia laughed nervously. "Yeah, what a bunch of nonsense," she said, not quite believing herself.

When they got back to the others, they endured only mild teasing from the others. They set up the fire, and sure enough, the flames were blue. Because of the salt, Sasha explained. It was mesmerising. Beautiful, in fact. And the whole time, Historia thought of the story Eren had told her.

\--

In the dream, Historia was in the forest. The light filtered through the canopy, casting strange shapes on the forest floor. Birds chirped.

Eren came into her view, his face panicked. "Run!" he cried, but his voice was obscured, as if they were underwater. In the distance, somebody screamed her name. Was it Sasha? It sounded like her voice.

"Historia, you need to get out of here now!" Eren cried again. Historia turned around, searching for the direction Sasha had called from. It sounded like she was in danger. 

Twigs broke behind Historia, and she turned back. Eren had disappeared, and in his place stood a massive brown wolf, with blazing green eyes. 

"Eren?" She asked. The wolf seemed to have human intelligence. He raised his hackles, and growled at something in the distance. Historia turned around yet again to see Ymir step into view. She seemed to be glowing from the inside out. Her freckles shone brighter than the rest of her skin, like stars. She held out a hand.

"Come with me, Historia," she said. The wolf that was Eren growled more, and jumped, right at Ymir-

"No!" Historia cried, heart racing. 

She sat up, in her bed. 7 AM, her alarm clock read. Her laptop was open on the bed next to her, and she was glad she hadn't knocked it off in her sleep. Turning it on revealed the last google page she'd had open, a page about vampire lore. Her dream had most likely been brought on by the research and Eren's story yesterday. Yeah. That was it.

She'd read through a lot of pages last night. A lot were for movies or RPGs, which sounded interesting, but ultimately didn't help her. One site had looked promising, but turned out to be the fansite for some hetero Mormon erotica. The site she had been looking on before she'd gone to sleep was the most legitimate-looking; it hosted an A-Z list of vampire legends around the world. Almost every culture had their own version of a vampire.

Historia closed the window, annoyed. Here she was, researching vampires. It felt stupid. Ymir and her family couldn't be vampires, right? But Historia couldn't think of anything that proved her wrong. The Fritzes didn't come to school when it was sunny. Ymir was fast, and super-strong. Her body held no heat, and thus she most likely didn't have blood. Come to think of it, Historia had never seen Ymir or her siblings eat anything. Why would she need to eat food, if she drank blood instead?

Historia spent Sunday trying to take her mind off vampirism by watching something on Netflix. Something light and happy, where nobody's heads detached to search for fetuses to snack on - some of the types of vampires Historia had read about had stayed with her, and not in a good way. She still felt mildly nauseous.

As she watched some crappy highschool romcom, Historia dreaded the return to school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey people are reading this, right? Tell me what you think about the story, I'm honestly curious if you're enjoying it.


	8. Harold, They're Lesbians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia goes into town, and encounters Ymir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bella Swan: No Charlie, there aren't any..... boys.... in town I want to date
> 
> 11-year-old me: I sure hope this doesn't awaken anything in me

The sun was out on Monday. To nobody's surprise, the Fritzes were absent. Camping, that was their excuse, wasn't it? Or maybe because they would burn up and die if they were caught in the sun. 

At lunch, Historia found out that Marco had asked Jean to go to prom with him, and Jean had agreed - however, Jean had only agreed to go as friends. Marco didn't mind, though, because he was happy to be with him in any way. Sasha had dropped hints to Connie, but he hadn't picked up on any of them. 

The rest of the day passed with little incident. Uri was still out when Historia got home, and he'd called her to say he was bringing food home for dinner.

Historia decided to pass the time with a book she'd picked up from one of Uri's bookshelves, some 19th century romance novel. However, after a few pages, she realised with disgust that the love interest was named Ilma, and that was far to close to Ymir for her liking. She found a second novel, but the main character went by Emila, and that was even closer. Historia put the book back with annoyance.

In the few minutes Historia had left her phone alone, it had blown up with messages from the groupchat. She opened it to discover that her friends were planning to go into town on the weekend to find outfits for prom. She agreed to go with them, but only if Uri gave her permission. She figured she might fit in some shopping of her own when she was there.

Uri came home, true to his word, with Chinese food.

"I didn't know what you want, but I hope fried rice is good," he said. 

Historia nodded. "Fried rice is fine."

They ate their meal in relative silence. Uri wasn't a great conversationalist.

"So, um, some friends and I were planning to go into town on Friday," she said. "To go shopping for prom."

"You're going to prom?" Uri asked.

"No, I'm just going to keep them company."

"Aren't there any boys in town you like?"

Historia stared intently at a grain of rice in her bowl. "No. There aren't any _boys _in town that've caught my eye."

"Hm. If you wanted, you could always ask Eren to come with you. Kenny says he seems to like you a lot." Uri sat for a while, then picked up on Historia's emphasis on the word "boy". "Or you could ask Mikasa. She seems like the sort of girl who would..."

He trailed off, understanding that Historia didn't want to go to prom. 

"You can go to town with your friends," he said with a nod.

"Thank you," Historia said. She stood up, and took her empty bowl into the kitchen. 

The week sped by. It was sunny the whole time, and the Fritzes were still a no-show. The good weather had faded by Friday, however, and it had started spitting by the time they were on the road to the nearby town. They decided to split up; Jean, Marco and Connie went to a menswear store to look for suits, and Sasha and Historia went to find a dress. Historia suggested they go to a secondhand store, and Sasha agreed.

"How do I look?" Sasha asked, coming out of the dressing room and twirling. The dress she wore was light blue and might have been a bridesmaids dress in its past life. 

"It's... nice," Historia said. Sasha turned around and looked in the mirror.

"Hmm, I don't know. Can you pass the black one?"

Historia passed Sasha the black dress she was holding, and she went back into the change room.

"So why aren't you coming to prom?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm not a big dancer," Historia said. "And, nobody's asked me out."

"Jean asked you out," Sasha said.

"Correction: no _girl_ has asked me out," Historia said. "And I don't know any other lesbians. My uncle said I should ask out Eren's sister, but I don't really know her, you know?"

"I think Marelda is pansexual," Sasha said, naming a girl from their maths class. 

"Yeah, but Marelda already has a girlfriend," Historia said. Sasha came out of the dressing room again, wearing the black dress. "That one looks nice."

She ended up buying the dress, and Historia bought a few pairs of jeans and some long sleeve shirts.

"The guys are going to meet up with us at Judy's Cafe," Sasha said, checking her phone. 

"Oh, cool," Historia said. "Hey, is it okay if I go off on my own? There's a bookstore nearby that I want to check out."

"Oh, sure. Just don't get lost or kidnapped or whatever," Sasha said with a wink. They both laughed, and went their separate ways.

Historia found the bookstore quickly, and browsed the shelves for something interesting to read. She ended up finding two YA novels that looked interesting, and payed with card.

Historia was five minutes into her walk back to the cafe when she realised she was being followed. Her heartrate sped up. There were four or five of them, loudly talking and laughing with each other. Historia hoped they were just a group of friends. Just friends, having fun with each other. Please.

"Hey!" One of the guys called. "Hey, come here!" 

His friends laughed, and Historia bolted. The group behind her started running as well, and she panicked. She had to run, she had to get away from them. She took a turn down an alleyway - and ran into a dead end.

"Shit," she said, eyes filling with tears. She didn't want her life to end like this.

"Hey, c'mon kid," one of the guys said. He and his friends entered the alleyway, blocking off the only entrance. Historia looked up, trying to see if she could scale the fence and escape.

"Don't be like that. It's no fun when they run," another said with a laugh, and Historia closed her eyes tight. Car wheels screeched nearby, and blared its horn. Historia opened her eyes to see an oh-so-familiar silver car, and she'd never been happier.

"Hey!" Came a shout. Ymir stepped out of the car, and walked up to the guys. Historia was far away, but she could see the fury in Ymir's eyes.

The guys looked confused. One laughed at her. She took his head in her hand, and threw him across the alley. Ymir looked to Historia, and met her eyes. "Get in," she said, and Historia knew what she meant. She took a break for it, and ran to the car. The guys were still too shocked to do anything, and she made it to the car door and got in. Ymir soon got into the driver's seat, and hightailed it out of there.


	9. A Date (But Not Really)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally talk.

"Aren't you going to put your seatbelt on?" Historia asked.

_"Aren't you going to put your seatbelt on?"_ Ymir repeated, in a mocking tone. "Say anything. Just talk about something to distract me."

"You threw that guy like he weighed nothing," Historia said.

"Talk about anything but that," Ymir said. She was gripping the steering wheel like a lifeline.

"Well, I went to the beach near Paradis the other day. My friend said you aren't allowed to come down there."

"Yeah, I know the place. The Ackermans are a bunch of territorial weirdos," Ymir said. 

"Hey, my uncle's dating an Ackerman," Historia said, defensively. 

"Then your uncle's probably a weirdo too."

"Hey, thank you," Historia said. "That's the second time you've saved my life. I'm starting to think you're a superhero or something."

"Ha, as if. I'm not exactly a good guy." Ymir looked in the rear view mirror. 

_Yeah. You're a blood-drinking corpse_. Historia didn't say that out loud, though. She looked at the clock on the car's dashboard. 

"The others will be worried about me," she said instead. "Can you drop me off at Judy's?"

"The cafe nearby?" Historia nodded. "Okay."

They parked outside a cute cafe, and got out. Historia caught sight of her friends, standing by their car.

"Hey!" Historia called. They heard her, and she ran over. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I got lost, and... and I ran into some trouble. I'm okay now, though."

"Oh, thank god," Marco said. "We were getting scared."

"Is that Ymir?" Connie asked. The girl in question was standing by the door of her car, scowling at them. 

"Yeah, she saved me. Is it okay if she joins us?" Historia asked.

"Actually, we've already eaten - sorry. We were going to wait, but it got dark."

"Oh, that's okay," Historia said. "I'm not really hungry."

"You should eat," said Ymir from behind her. "I'll look after her. You guys drive home."

Historia's friends looked amongst each other, and got in the car. Marco told her to stay safe, and then drove off.

"I'm not really that hungry," Historia said, but her growling stomach gave her away.

The cafe was almost empty, being that it was night and the off season. They sat down at a booth, and flipped through the menu.

"What are you getting?" Ymir asked. 

"The ravioli, I think," Historia said. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm not hungry," Ymir said.

_Right. Because you drink blood._

The waiter came up to their table, and asked for their order. 

"To share?" She asked. 

"Oh, yeah," Ymir said with a curt nod. The waiter went back to the kitchen.

"So how did you know where to find me?" Historia asked

"I heard you were coming up here, so I came to make sure you didn't make a fool of yourself. Good idea, I guess."

"So you stalked me? Creep," Historia teased. "But how did you know _where _I was?"

"I guess you could say I could... hear what they were thinking. It was disgusting. When one of them thought about your appearance, I knew it was you."

"You can read minds?" Historia asked. "Can you read mine?"

"No," Ymir said, "and that's the weird thing. Normally I can read most people's minds, but I can't read yours. For example, that guy over there is thinking about his wife. The cook in the kitchen is having an affair. The waiter who served us is finally getting her name legally changed. But you... you're an empty slate."

The waiter came back with Historia's meal. "Are you sure you don't want anything?" She asked Ymir. 

Ymir nodded. "I'm fine."

"So," Historia continued, when the waiter had gone, "how come you can't read my mind? Is there something wrong with me?"

"I tell you I can read minds, and you're worried there's something wrong with you?" Ymir laughed, but not in her harsh mocking laugh that she usually had. "No, I don't think it's you."

"So what about you?" Historia asked. "You have super strength and speed, you can read minds, and you don't eat food?"

Ymir narrowed her eyes. "I'm on a special diet."

_One where you only drink blood?_

"Are your siblings in on these strange abilities of yours?" 

"They might be." 

"I think I know what you are," Historia said. 

"Don't say it." Ymir lifted Historia's chin up with a stone-cold finger, so she could look into her eyes. "Not here."

Historia nodded. "Okay."

Ymir ended up paying for the meal. Historia offered, but Ymir insisted. They didn't talk on the way home. Historia wanted to bring up the topic, but every time she thought about it her mouth failed her. 

"Thank you, again," she said when Ymir parked outside her house.

"No problem. Try not to get in trouble again," Ymir said with a smile. Historia smiled back, and waved as Ymir took off at a speed probably far over the limit. 

"You're back late," Uri said when Historia came inside. "Who was that?"

"A friend dropped me off. Do you mind if I go straight to bed? I've already eaten."

Uri nodded, and Historia went to her room. She pulled out her phone, and the first thing she did was text the group chat a quick 'home safe!' message, so they knew Ymir hadn't killed her. The next thing she did was call Frieda.

"Are you up?" She asked.

_"I am now. Chris, I have a test tomorrow-"_

"I think I just went on a date."

Frieda paused._ "You _think _you were on a date? Tell me, how does that work exactly?"_

"Well, she bought me a meal, and we talked, but it was kind of weird, you know?"

_"Yeah, I think that was a date."_

They talked, late into the night. Historia didn't want to go to sleep, because that would mean she would dream of Ymir.


	10. The Word "Irrevocably" Does Not Appear In This Chapter Because It Is Stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir finally reveals the truth about her vampiric state. Historia figures out that she's fallen in love.

The next day started as normal. Historia got up, made breakfast, and watched the news. Another person had been found dead, the cause chalked up to a bear attack. Uri was going around to the Ackermans' place, as Mikasa was feeling better, and offered to take Historia along; but she had other plans. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to find Ymir, but she was going to try. They needed to have a talk.

It turned out, it was a lot easier to find Ymir than Historia had expected. She stood across the road from Uri's house, leaning against a tree. Historia crossed the road.

"Were you watching me all night?" Historia asked.

"No. A little birdy told me that you wanted to chat with me about last night." Ymir stood up straight. "I'm guessing you want to go into the woods for this conversation."

Historia walked alongside her. "Was this "birdy" anyone I know?"

Ymir shoved her hands in her back pockets. "Not really. But he is like me. His... ability involves randomly seeing into the future. He decided to blurt in front of our whole family that I was going to spill our secret to you in the forest. I got in a lot of trouble for something I technically hadn't even done yet."

"Uh huh," Historia said, not quite following on. The two walked for a while, until they came to a small clearing.

"I think you already know what I am," Ymir said. Her usual sarcastic tone had dropped. Something about her seemed cold, steely. "You seemed pretty close last night."

"I think I do," Historia said. "Tell me - how old are you?"

"Seventeen." 

"How long have you been seventeen?"

Ymir stared at her. "A while."

That was the final puzzle piece. It fell into place perfectly, spelling out the answer in clear letters.

"You're a vampire."

Ymir turned away from her, staying silent. Historia knew she was right.

"Aren't you scared, Historia?" Ymir asked, still facing away.

That was the first time Ymir had used her name. It sounded nice, coming off her tongue like that.

"Why should I be?" Historia asked. "You saved my life. You're one of the good guys."

As she said it, she wasn't sure if she truly believed that or if she was trying to convince herself.

"But I'm sure you know what vampires drink. Doesn't that frighten you?"

Ymir turned back around. A tiny smirk played at her lips as she looked down at Historia. Historia stood her ground, not wanting Ymir to know that she was, in fact, the tiniest bit scared.

"No. You drink animal blood. Or at least, your ancestors did. You're like... a vampire vegetarian."

"Vegetarian... that's good. I'm using that." Ymir walked closer, a twig snapping underfoot. "But that doesn't make me a gentle soul. You haven't seen me hunt."

"What are you like when you hunt?" Historia asked, prompting Ymir to tell her more about herself.

Ymir couldn't help herself from smiling more. "I'm told I'm like a mountain lion. My brothers are more like bears."

"Bears," Historia echoed. The image of humanlike people hunting like bears reminded her of something, probably a show on TV or something.

"You know, I've killed people," Ymir said. There was a twinge of playfulness in her voice. "It's dangerous for you to be around me."

"You haven't killed me yet," Historia replied. 

"I might not drink human blood, but that doesn't mean it isn't borderline irresistible. Who knows what might happen if I get hungry..." Ymir flashed her teeth, showing them off. Historia could see now that her incisors ended in needle-like points.

"You won't. You go to school, and there's loads of people there."

"Ha. I keep my distance from them. Unlike _one_ of my brothers, I know not to risk revealing myself. Of course, I've failed at that now."

Ymir rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. Historia decided to ask more questions.

"So is all of your family vampires?"

There was no way that Ymir's siblings, emotionally cold and distant and bizarre, weren't also vampires.

"Yep. All of them. I'm the oldest - of my siblings. Maybe. I think Bert and Reiner were turned sometime around the forties. That's around the time they joined the family."

Well. They weren't as old as Historia had thought. "Were they a couple back then as well?" Historia asked.

"Absolutely. They're..." Ymir took a pause to show off her disgusted expression- "_soulmates_. They're gross with each other. It's disgusting to watch."

Historia knew the type. Back at her old school, there had been multiple couples who were joined at the hip. She supposed that it would be infinitely worse to have to watch a couple like that for all eternity.

"I'm guessing your absences from school are so you don't burn up and die in the sunlight," she said.

Ymir laughed harshly. "No. We don't burn in the sun, dumbass."

She started unbuttoning the Hawaiian shirt she was wearing. Historia looked away, awkwardly.

"Hold my shirt," Ymir said, and gave it to her. "Watch me."

She stepped out into the sunlight, and Historia gasped.

Ymir was glowing, like in her dream. Her skin shone like it emitted its own light, with the freckles brighter than the rest.

"It's beautiful," Historia breathed.

"This is the skin of a killer, Historia. I'm a monster. Everything about me is supposed to draw you in, to lull you into a false sense of security." 

_It's working_, Historia thought. She couldn't take her eyes off Ymir.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," Ymir said. Historia blinked, and threw the shirt back at her. 

When the shirt was buttoned up again, Ymir sat down in the grass. She motioned for Historia to sit next to her.

"So you've decided not to eat me?" Historia asked, sitting in the cold dirt. 

"Maybe not," Ymir said with a grin, exposing her sharp teeth again. "Maybe I just like to play with my food."

They laid down together, staring up at the sky, for quite some time.

"What are we?" Historia asked, on the hike back to her house.

"I'm not sure. It depends on what you want from me."

"I think I'd like for us to be friends."

Ymir looked at her, a twinge of annoyance in her eyes.

_Perhaps more than that. _Though Ymir could not read her mind, Historia hoped she picked up on the subtext.

"I guess it would be nice to be around someone as mentally quiet as you," Ymir said. Historia wasn't sure if that was meant as a compliment or not.

"So I'll see you at school on Monday?" Historia asked, when they reached the house. Ymir gave her a smile.

"If the weather's miserable, then perhaps."

And in the blink of an eye, Ymir was gone.

It was nice to have some closure. There were three things Historia knew now that she didn't before. 

The first was that Ymir was a vampire.

The second was that there was a chance, deep down, Ymir thirsted for her blood.

And the third was that some part of Historia was madly in love with her.


	11. Goth GF

Arriving at school on Monday felt different now. It was a combination of finding out that the weird girl at school was a vampire and that Historia might be dating her.

She'd never had a girlfriend before. Of course, she'd had crushes - girls in Maria were generally athletic and pretty - but she'd never been in a relationship before. She hadn't even been kissed.

She'd also never been trusted with a secret like _this_.

Ymir greeted her in the carpark that morning.

"I didn't think I was getting a personal escort today," Historia joked.

"I wanted to walk in together," Ymir told her. 

Historia blushed. "You know, people will stare. They'll talk."

"Let them. I just want to make sure you don't spill our secret."

"I won't tell anyone," Historia said.

"I know," Ymir said with a wink. "Want to hold my hand on the way in or something?"

"I - uh - of course." Ymir held out her hand, and Historia took it. It was ice cold, but that didn't deter her.

Every eye was on the two of them as they walked into school. It wasn't a feeling Historia liked, but Ymir seemed to love the attention.

They had to split up to go to their classes, but Historia was fine with that.

At lunch, she thought they would be sitting at their respective tables as usual. It felt that way at first. Historia's friend group swamped her with questions the second she reached the table.

"You're friends with Ymir now?"

"What happened?"

"Did she kiss you?"

"Is she as rude in person as she is to strangers?"

Historia didn't get a chance to answer the questions, because a cold hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Will your friends mind if I sit here today?" Ymir asked. She looked at them expectantly, and Historia saw a twinge of a frown on her face. No doubt she was reading their minds.

"That's fine," Marco said, giving an uneasy smile. Everyone else nodded, but Jean was frowning the whole time. They continued on with their usual talk, just with the addition of Ymir, sitting with them and not eating or talking. All she did that lunch break was play with Historia's hair, twirling it around her fingers.

Sasha opened her mouth to ask something, but Ymir beat her to the answer.

"I _think _we're a couple. Are we a couple, Historia?" Ymir asked.

Historia's heart beat faster in her chest. "Um... yes." She held Ymir's hand yet again, and turned to the rest of the group. "We're a couple."

Historia looked over her shoulder at that moment, and caught three pairs of eyes glaring at them.

"Your siblings don't seem to be happy," Historia whispered.

"They're just mad I'm breaking the rules," Ymir answered. She planted a kiss on the top of Historia's head.

\--

That afternoon, Ymir came around to Historia's house. She rang the doorbell multiple times until Historia came down to open it for her.

"So vampires really can't come into people's homes without an invitation?" Historia joked. Ymir rolled her eyes.

"Unfortunately. But that also prevents vampiric home invaders."

"Hmm." Historia let Ymir inside, and she immediately sat on the kitchen bench. "Ymir, don't sit on the bench, my uncle's home-"

The back door opened, and Uri came into the kitchen. He noticed Ymir on the bench, and gave a look of disapproval.

"Hey, Mr Reiss," Ymir said.

He walked past her. "Is there a reason she's in our house?" He asked Historia in a low tone.

"Because she's my... friend," Historia said. Uri gave one last annoyed glance, then dropped the subject.

"Kenny's coming around later," he said. "We're watching the game."

"As in Ackerman?" Ymir asked. Historia nodded. "Well, I'd better go. Don't want to intrude on your night," she said, sliding off the bench. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Historia waved her goodbye as she left. 

"So, are the two of you..."

"Friends," Historia said quickly. Uri dropped the subject.

Not even half an hour later, a car pulled up in the driveway. Historia went out to greet them, and saw that Eren was in the car as well.

"Hey," he said, waving at Historia.

"Hey," she said back. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Yeah, I wanted to come see you," Eren said. He shoved his hands in his pockets and the two teens stood awkwardly outside, Kenny having already gone inside. 

"Do you... want to come inside?" Historia asked. Eren nodded, and followed her upstairs into her bedroom. He sat down on the bed. 

"So, uh, how's school going?" Eren asked. 

"Oh, it's good. I-"

She stopped short. She was going to tell him that she was dating Ymir, but that meant revealing two things. First, it meant telling Eren that she was gay, and second, it meant telling him that she was dating a member of the family he was forbidden from being anywhere near. Come to think of it, that might have had some bearing on Ymir's early departure. Historia made a note to ask her about that some time.

"You..?" Eren was waiting for her to finish.

"I, I have a girlfriend," Historia said.

"Seriously? You've been here less than a month." Eren laughed, and Historia started laughing as well. 

"I know, I know. We only started dating this morning," she said. "The car's doing well, too."

"Oh, I'm glad for that," Eren said. "If you need any help with it, feel sure to ask. I'm kind of getting into cars and that, so I'll help if you need it."

"Oh, thank you!" Historia sat down next to him. "How are you going at school?"

Eren crossed his arms. "It sucks," he said. 

"Really? What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just people at school. They suck."

"Tell me more about it," Historia asked.

"No, I'll deal with it," Eren said. "I'll be fine."

"Well, okay then, I guess." The two of them made awkward small talk until it was time for Eren to leave.


	12. "Meat" The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia officially meets the other vampires for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geddit? Meat? Like blood? I'm not funny.

Ymir sat with them at lunch again the next day. Her arm was around Historia the whole time.

"So, my family wants to meet you," Ymir said, standing in the school's carpark after class. 

"They do?" Historia asked. She opened her car door, and got in. 

"Yeah. They want you to come around tonight." Ymir blocked Historia from closing the car door.

"What, to kill me?" Historia joked. Ymir laughed.

"No, just to meet you. They're _vegetarians_, Historia."

"Who said they were going to eat me after they kill me?"

"I'll pick you up at half past three?" Ymir said. 

"Okay, fine, I'll come and meet your family," Historia said, playfully rolling her eyes. She closed the door, and looked back at Ymir in the rear vision mirror. Ymir was smiling - a real, genuine smile.

\--

Half an hour later, Historia was sitting in the passenger seat of Ymir's car. They were driving through the woods, trees towering overhead. 

"So we've all been vegetarians for a while now, but Bertholt is the newest to the lifestyle. So if he has to leave he isn't being rude, he's just catching his breath because your scent is so intoxicating," Ymir explained.

"Um, thanks..?"

"If Annie's rude to you, well, that's just how she is. There's no helping her. Reiner's the complete opposite, however. He'll welcome you in straight away. Tell me if he makes you uncomfortable, I'll deal with him. And mom... she's mom. If you're nice enough she'll probably adopt you. I mean, even if you're rude she'd probably adopt you. _I _wasn't an angel, and she adopted me."

"So you were always a bad girl?" Historia teased. 

"Ha, I guess so. I ran away from home and nearly died of a heroin overdose."

"Oh my god," Historia said, putting a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea..."

"Don't worry. I'm not an addict any more. Dina found me on the street and turned me. When I woke up, I wasn't addicted to heroin any more." Ymir turned to Historia, and flashed her teeth. "I was addicted to the taste of _blood_."

She said the last word in a mock Romanian accent that made Historia laugh, which made Ymir smile. 

"She was lonely, I think," Ymir continued. "She'd lost her husband and her son years ago. It was a difficult feat, to turn me successfully."

"Wouldn't she just have to bite you? Isn't that how it works?"

"Yes and no. I mean, all it takes to inject the venom is a bite, but when you taste the blood, it's nearly impossible to stop."

Historia looked away. "And what about the others? How do they fit into the picture?"

"Well, I've told you some of it already, but for a while it was just Dina and I living together. One day, she brought home some other street urchin. I guess she thought we were going to fall in love or something, but Annie was a bitch. Bertholt and Reiner just showed up at our house one day, and we took them in. Reiner's the brother with the prophesy power I told you about."

"Do your other siblings have powers too?" Historia asked.

"Nope." Ymir turned off the main road. "Just us. We think it's because of drug influence or something. We don't know for sure, though, because Reiner doesn't remember life before being turned and we aren't about to test the hypothesis."

Historia hummed in understanding. Soon a large minimalistic house came into view. 

"Woah, you live here?" She asked in awe. 

"Yup." Ymir pulled up in front, and got out of the car. In the blink of an eye she was opening the door for Historia.

"Hmm, maybe chivalry is dead," she said immediately, which caused Ymir to burst out laughing.

"That's brilliant!" Ymir said, in between laughs. She grabbed Historia's hand, and led her to the door. "Come on, let's meet my family."

Historia let herself be dragged into the house, admiring it. "It's very light," she said.

"Yeah. What, you thought we lived in a castle? Slept in coffins?" Ymir asked mockingly.

"No, I - I'm not sure what I expected," Historia answered. Whatever it was, she hadn't expected this. "I guess you don't have to worry about hiding your sparkle out here."

Ymir took Historia into the kitchen, where the other vampires were. Each of them was in some stage of preparing food; Bertholt was waiting by the microwave, Reiner was chopping onions _very_ finely, Annie was holding a glass bowl of spinach, and Dina was putting chicken into another bowl. She was the first to look up when the two girls entered the kitchen, and she smiled. 

"Hey, mom," Ymir said awkwardly. She gestured between the two of them. "You've already met, so I don't really need to introduce you."

"It's lovely to have you over, Historia," Dina said. Reiner waved at them with the knife he was holding. "You've given us an excuse to use the kitchen for the first time."

"Oh," Historia said, not wanting to decline their hospitality. "Um, I've already eaten."

Her attention was caught by the sound of glass shattering. The bowl in Annie's hands had cracked. She dropped the remaining shards on the floor and stormed off.

"I'm sorry," Historia mumbled. 

"Don't worry about her, she has a stick up her ass," Reiner said, though he too looked mildly disappointed that their efforts had been in vain. "She won't hurt you, though."

"Hey, Historia, why don't I show you the rest of the house?" Ymir offered, quite loudly. Historia nodded, and trailed behind Ymir. 

"Well that was certainly a good first impression," Historia muttered. 

"What do you mean?" Ymir asked. "Because of Annie? Like Reiner said, she's always like that. I guess she's just jealous of you or whatever."

_Annie? Jealous? Of me?_ Historia couldn't think of something more unbelievable. 

"She just wants to be a normal girl," Ymir continued. "Plus, I think she's scared you'll attract unwanted attention to us."

They passed through the hallway, past several decorations that caught Historia's attention. One was a collage of trencher caps, presumably from past schools the Fritzes had graduated from. Historia couldn't stand the idea of having to repeat school that many times. A framed photograph sat on a hall dresser; it was old, possibly from the 1800's, and depicted a young couple and a small boy. The couple looked awfully familiar. Historia could place the woman as being Dina, albeit in old-fashioned clothes. She wasn't sure how she recognised the man.

"Dina's family," Ymir said, as if reading Historia's mind, even though she technically couldn't. "Come on. I'll show you my room."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note: this story will have a short hiatus while I focus on another project. The next update will be on the 3rd of December, a week from now. Sorry about the wait, but I just want to sort things out first. Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you soon!


	13. Vampire Baseball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using OCs for the rogue vampires

"There's no bed."

That was the first thing Historia noticed when Ymir showed her her room. 

"Seriously? That's the first thing you comment on?" Ymir asked mockingly.

"Well, it's generally a significant feature in bedrooms," Historia spat back. Ymir smirked.

"Yeah, vampires don't need to sleep. We aren't alive."

Aside from the lack of bed, Ymir's room contained a fancy couch and a large bookshelf along one wall. It didn't only contain books; there were also CDs, cassettes and even vinyl records. 

"You have a lot of music," Historia noted.

"I have a lot of time," Ymir answered. 

"What sort of stuff do you listen to?"

"A bit of everything. Right now my favourite's this vampire musician. He's feral, but in a sexy way, you know, for a man." Ymir took a CD case off the shelf. Historia recognised the artist as one that one of her acquaintances in Maria listened to. She hadn't known that he was a vampire.

Ymir put the album back. "Hey, I want to show you something. Get on my back."

Historia did so without question. "What are you going to sho- woah!"

Ymir ran and jumped out of the open door in her room, and clung to a nearby tree. Historia laughed in terror, clinging to Ymir for dear life. 

"Are you scared of heights?" Ymir asked.

"Yes," Historia answered. 

"Okay, well, close your eyes."

She did so, and felt the wind whip through her hair as Ymir jumped again. They stopped moving, and Historia opened her eyes. 

They were at the top of one of the tallest trees, with a perfect view of the surrounding valley. Historia could just make out Paradis in the distance. 

"Holy..."

"I know, breathtaking, right?" Ymir said. "If I had breath, it would be taken by now."

Historia laughed. "There's a storm rolling in," she said.

"Oh, perfect baseball weather," Ymir said.

"Are you joking?"

Ymir looked serious.

"Really?"

"We have to wait for a thunderstorm to play," Ymir said. "You'll see. If you stick around to watch, that is. I'll ask mom."

They climbed down the tree gently, and made their way back to the house. Ymir's siblings sat in the lounge room.

"Can Historia join us?" Ymir asked. 

"Yeah, that should be fine," Reiner said. He got off the couch and stood in front of her, holding out his hand. She shook it. He had a firm grasp. "We're gonna be friends."

Annie was giving her a glare from the couch, while Bertholt smiled awkwardly. 

\--

They drove out to a massive clearing in the woods. 

"Will we need an umbrella or something?" Historia asked. 

"No, the storm won't hit the clearing."

They tumbled out of the car they had taken, taking the equipment out and setting up. 

"So, uh, baseball, huh?" Historia said. Dina laughed. 

"I know. Not what you'd think the creatures of the night would enjoy playing," she said. A faraway look appeared in her eyes. "My son loved it."

"Your son?" Historia asked. It didn't sound like she was talking about Reiner or Bertholt.

"Yes. Zeke, my biological son."

Historia understood now. She'd seen the photo in the house, and figured now that that must be her aforementioned son. Ymir had mentioned a son as well.

"I'm so sorry," Historia said, putting a hand on Dina's cold arm. 

"That's alright. He isn't dead. Well, he's undead. A vampire, like us. He-"

Dina was cut off by a loud commotion. Reiner and Ymir were fighting over something.

"I'd better go and referee before they tear each others' arms off," she said. 

"So why do you have to play during a thunderstorm?" Historia asked, watching the siblings sort out the order of batting. 

"It's the noise, mainly," Dina said. Bertholt was first to pitch, and Annie the first to bat, and when the ball hit the bat it ricocheted off with a massive crack, like a clap of thunder. The siblings made a mad dash for the ball while Annie sprinted around the field faster than Historia could see. 

The others took turns, and all seemed good until Reiner dropped the bat and clutched at his head. Bertholt was at his side in an instant, and Dina and Historia soon after. 

"Is everything okay?" She asked. 

"There's others," Reiner said. "They heard us, they're coming this way."

"How long?" Dina asked. 

"Five minutes. Oh my god - they're going to smell Historia."

"What?" Historia asked. 

"Not all of us drink animal blood," Dina said, while Ymir put a protective arm around Historia's shoulder.

"If we smother her scent, they shouldn't smell her, right?" Ymir asked, holding Historia close.

"That's not going to work, I could smell her from the other side of the field," Annie snapped. 

"I'll start the car," Bertholt said, but Dina stopped him. 

"They'll chase us. We have to stand our ground."

The Fritzes formed a wall in front of the girls. Annie lifted her fists in preparation.

"Stay with me," Ymir said lowly. Historia nodded.

It felt like they were waiting forever until the other vampires showed up. In time, they emerged from the treeline; three tall figures, gliding across the ground with ease. They stopped in front of the family. 

Ymir held Historia closer.

"We heard you playing," the vampire in the middle said. She had blonde hair that fell to her waist, and was dressed like a motorcyclist. The girl to her side had hair that was ginger, and wore a varsity jacket. The man, to her other side, had light brown hair that was swept to the side. None of them wore shoes, and all of them had red eyes. "Mind if we join?"

"We were just finishing up," Dina said with a sweet smile. 

"Hmm. My name is Helma, this is Jakob and Irine." The vampire in the middle gestured to the others, who nodded.

"I'm Dina, these are my kids," she replied. "Your hunting in our area has got the humans on our tail."

Helma pursed her lips for a split second, then went back to her smile. "I'm very sorry. We weren't aware that other vampires had already claimed this place. We'll try to hold in our thirst until we're out of here. Mind if we join the game?"

Historia felt Ymir's hold tighten. 

"Like I said, we're packing up now. If you want, you can come back to our place to rest for the night."

The three vampires looked amongst themselves before Helma spoke again. "Of course. If you lead the way, we'll follow."

For the most part, the two groups dispersed - but Irine stood in place. Her eyes were trained on Historia, and when she moved, Irine's eyes dilated.

"You brought a human," she said. She smiled, and Historia was flung backwards onto the ground, winding her. The other vampires were soon back in position, guarding her. Historia sat up on her elbow to look. 

"She's with us," someone said - probably Reiner. 

"Irine, back down," Helma said. Irine stood up straight, and Jakob put his arm around her. The three vampires backed away, then ran into the woods.

"She's a tracker," Ymir said. "Oh, oh no, she's got her scent." She picked Historia up off the ground, holding her bridal style. 

"Get her in the car," Dina said. Ymir raced Historia to the van, and sat her in the passenger seat. She went around to the driver's side, and took off. 

"We're not taking the others?" Historia asked. 

"They're fast. We need to get you out of here." Ymir had gone into serious mode, staring straight ahead at the road.

""Out of here?" Ymir, what do you mean?"

"I mean, Irine won't stop tracking you until we kill her. I read her mind. I have to get you far away right now."

"'Right now?" What about Uri?" Historia was practically screaming. "I can't leave town, he's my uncle, he'll wonder where I've gone and-"

"Do you want him to get killed?" Ymir asked. "Irine will rip him apart to get to you."

Historia shuddered at the thought. "At least let me say goodbye."

Ymir relaxed for a second, considering. Then she turned onto the link to town.


	14. Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia leaves town, desperate to get the rogue vampires off her back.

"Leave me alone!" Historia shouted, slamming the front door. She was in tears, sobbing. The commotion caused Uri to come downstairs.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm leaving," Historia said. "I'm going home, so I don't have to be with her!"

She pointed to outside, where Ymir stood.

"You mean now?" Uri asked, as Historia climbed the stairs to her room. She grabbed her backpack and made a show of stuffing in random clothes. "Historia, don't be rash. Sit down and talk to me."

"No!" Historia shouted. She threw her bag on her back and stormed downstairs.

"Wait," Uri said. She turned around to see his face, pleading. "Just stay, even for the night. You can go home in the morning, just think things out before then."

Historia didn't want to leave. Not really. "I'm going home, to Maria, _tonight_."

She made a point of saying the sentence loudly, before getting into her car and driving away.

She pulled up in front of the Fritzes' house for the second time that day, getting out and joining the family in the garage.

"She knows I'm going to Maria," Historia said. 

"And she's headed up there now," Ymir finished. 

Dina nodded. "So we _won't _send Historia to her hometown," she said. "In case Jakob is still hanging around, a group of us will take off in one direction while the others look after Historia."

"A good idea."

A figure stepped into the light, and Ymir and Historia recoiled. Helma smiled.

"I won't hurt you. But stay wary - Jakob and Irine are soulmates. If you want to kill one, you'll have to kill both of them." 

With that warning, Helma strutted out. 

"Annie and Ymir and I will be the distraction. Bertholt and Reiner, you two take care of Historia," Dina said. 

"What?" Ymir asked, enraged. "I should be with her, I can protect her-"

"That's what Irine will expect," Annie said. "We have to split you up."

Ymir scowled at her, but left the room to prepare. Historia was picked up and placed in the passenger seat of the silver car the Fritzes drove to school. She turned around to see that it was Reiner who had done so. 

"So where are we taking you?" He asked, getting in the driver's seat. Bertholt sat in the back.

"Anywhere, I guess," she said. "My family's mainly living on the coast, right now. Frieda's at law school on the other side of the country. So anywhere but there."

"Well, anywhere we go," Reiner said, starting the car and driving out. In the rear-vision mirror, Historia saw the women run out.

"Are they Naruto running?" Historia asked in disbelief. 

"Are they what?"

Oh. It made sense that the vampires wouldn't know about Naruto.

"If we survive this, I'll show you." 

Reiner turned the radio on, but it was too low to really hear. 

"So, um, how do you kill a vampire?" Historia asked, trying to break the awkward near silence.

"There's lots of ways," Bertholt said quietly, startling Historia. She hadn't expected him to speak to her. "Dismemberment, burning, and having your ashes spread so you can't reform. A river is the best place to scatter the ashes. Silver burns our skin, along with the name of g- of g- you know what I'm trying to say."

"So you really can't say god?" Historia asked.

"No, we can say it, it just burns our mouth," Reiner said. "Like, if you eat soup when it's too hot. I haven't had soup in years."

They stopped at a service station when dawn broke, and moved seats so that Historia was sitting in the back. She slept for a while, but only lightly - she was never one for sleeping while travelling. 

She decided that she had to call her father, so he knew she was safe. Of course, it wasn't like he would care, but on the off chance he did...

The call went straight to voicemail.

"Um. It's Historia. I've left Paradis, but I'm safe, I'm with friends. Uh. Call back."

She put her phone back in her pocket, and saw that Bertholt and Reiner were holding hands.

The car swerved, and Bertholt shouted. They pulled over on the side of the road.

"What's wrong?" Historia asked. She leaned forwards so she could see. Reiner had his head in his hands, and gave a thumbs up. 

"A vision?" Bertholt asked. Reiner nodded.

"Irine's following them. She'll be preoccupied, and we'll be fine so long as we stay far away."

"Great," Bertholt said, nodding. "I'll drive."

"What?" Reiner asked. "I'm fine, you don't have to do that."

"If I may, I'm the mortal here and I want the guy who doesn't get prophetic visions to be the driver," Historia added. "No offense. I just don't feel like getting in a car crash."

Reiner eventually surrendered the steering wheel, albeit reluctantly, and they drove on.

"So why can't we just go back to Paradis?" Historia asked. "If Irine isn't going to kill me."

"Reiner's visions are subjective," Bertholt said. "Irine won't kill you, provided we stay away."

"If we went back, she'd smell your scent and realise we tricked her, and then it'll be even worse."

Historia didn't say anything else on the matter. She leaned against the window, looking out at the scenery. The woods had turned to rocky desert during the night. Reiner was a fast driver. It was a miracle that they hadn't been pulled over by police yet; Historia pictured a police officer pulling them over for going at 200 kilometres an hour and seeing that the culprits were two teenagers with glowing skin. Actually, how come they weren't glowing now? Was it tinted windows? Probably. The Fritzes had been around for at least a hundred years. They wouldn't be that stupid.

Instead, Historia thought about Ymir. Who knew what she could be doing, what danger she could be in. And Annie and Dina as well. Historia didn't want bad things to happen to them because of her.


	15. Mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While hiding in their hotel room, Historia gets a call from the vampire tracking her, with an ultimatum.

By mid-afternoon, they reached Maria. Historia expected to be hit with a wave of longing - this was her home, after all - but felt nothing but the same hollow, scared feeling she'd been having all day.

Bertholt parked in the underground carpark of some big-name hotel, and booked two rooms. He made sure that the front desk knew they needed no maid service, and that they were not to be disturbed under any circumstances. Reiner winked at the receptionist, as if to get the point across.

They didn't end up using their room for the implied purpose, nor did they use the second room. They all sat in one room, sitting around awkwardly. At least, Historia was awkward. Reiner was leaning on Bertholt's shoulder, eyes trained on whatever daytime soapie was playing. Historia tried to do the same, but couldn't concentrate on it. 

"So what now?" Historia asked, her voice quiet. 

"We wait until we get a call," Bertholt answered. 

Hours passed. Occasionally one of them would go and get Historia food from the vending machine in the corridor, but she barely ate any of it. She was too anxious.

She was curled up in the armchair, scrolling through Instagram when Reiner had another vision.

"She just changed course," he said. "Irine. She knows she's been tricked, she's angry, she's going... to a mirror. A room of mirrors."

""A room of mirrors?"" Bertholt grabbed a pen and the notepad on the room's coffee table. "What do you mean, show us."

Reiner sketched out an image of a room with mirrors on each wall. It looked like the ballet studio she'd gone to when she took ballet as a kid. 

"I thought Irine was staying in Paradis," Historia said. 

"The visions are-"

"Subjective, I know, I'm sorry. So why is Irine going to the ballet studio?"

The vampires looked up at her.

"You've been here?" Reiner asked.

"Yeah, my mother forced me to take lessons when I was little," Historia said. "Does that mean Irine is coming here?"

A phone buzzed. Bertholt pulled his out of his pocket, and put it on speakerphone.

_"Irine's changed course,"_ Ymir said, breathlessly. _"Mom's gone to track down Jakob, Annie's making sure Uri's safe. Is Historia with you?"_

"Yeah, I'll put you on." Bertholt handed the phone to Historia.

"Ymir, are you alright?"

_"I'm fine, I'm coming to get you. I'm going to make sure you're alright,"_ Ymir said. _"I love you."_

"I love you too," Historia said, but the call ended before she could finish. She handed it back to Bertholt.

"I thought you should know that the phone was still on speaker," Bertholt whispered. "So um, we could hear everything."

Historia didn't even care. She grabbed her bag. "When do we leave?"

"When we've checked out," Bertholt said. He pulled Reiner along behind him. "You wait up here. We'll come and get you."

And they closed the door behind them, locking it as they went.

Historia should be safe in the hotel room. She wasn't sure how the semantics of the "can't enter without an invitation" worked, but Reiner had assured her that technically the room was theirs until they booked out of it. 

Historia's phone started ringing. She answered it.

_"Hello? Historia, are you okay? I just got a call from dad, he said Uri said you'd left Paradis? Are you alright?" _

"Frieda," Historia said. "I'm fine. I'm with friends. We're on a... weekend trip."

_"Christa, you scared the hell out of us,"_ Frieda said. _"I thought something had-"_

A thumping noise could be heard, and Frieda stopped talking.

"Frieda?" Historia asked. "Are you there? Did something happen?"

A new voice joined the conversation. _"Paradis high doesn't lock up its students' records very well,"_ Irine said. _"Jakob found out that your sister goes to law school near where you live."_

"Leave her alone," Historia said, panicking. "Don't hurt her, leave her out of this."

_"Oh, I won't hurt her,"_ Irine said._ "Provided you come and meet me. How about an exchange?"_

Historia's heart raced. "Okay."

She could almost see Irine smile on the other end of the phone. _"We'll meet at your old dance studio. That sounds good, doesn't it? Oh, and don't try bringing any of your friends. I'll know if you do."_

Irine hung up, and Historia flew out of the room. She climbed down the stairs two at a time, and sneaked through the lobby. Bertholt and Reiner were still at the receptionist's desk, and she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She couldn't do this. It would kill them, and Ymir- she didn't want to think about that.

So she left the hotel. 

She had to save Frieda. Frieda was her family, the mother she'd never had; it was Frieda who had taught her how to read, had taught her colours and numbers and morals. All of her fond childhood memories in some way involved her half sister. Historia didn't want Frieda to die because of her. And besides, the Fritzes would be alright. They'd move on. Historia was just a novelty in their afterlives, just some human whose mind couldn't be read. She was sure that some other blank slate would come about one day. Her friends at school would be alright too. She'd only known them for a few weeks, they'd get over her death.

Her death.

Historia wasn't sure she wanted to die. She made jokes, but seriously? She was scared. But she wouldn't be missed. And she was okay with that, if it meant saving her sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn't proofread so just ignore any spelling errors


	16. The Most Horrible Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia travels to the ballet studio to exchange herself for her sister. She nearly dies.

Historia's mother never did much to look after her daughter. She was a burden on her, she'd said many times. Getting in the way of better things, and people, Alma could have been doing. It was odd that Alma had signed her up for ballet classes. Historia hadn't liked ballet that much, but she pretended to enjoy it for her mother's sake. Maybe this was just her mother's funny way of showing affection.

It turned out Alma had been buying drugs off the husband of the woman who ran the studio, so she got free lessons there as a favour. 

The studio was, unsurprisingly, no longer in the hands of its old owners. The new owner was a woman named Miss Daviau, and she held tap and jazz classes as well as ballet.

The interior of the studio had changed as well, though not by much. The sound system had been updated, along with the TV screens. 

"Christa?" came a voice from inside the studio. _Frieda_. She started running, hoping to get to her. If she was going to die, then she at least wanted to see her sister one more time.

"Frieda, I'm here!" She shouted. She flung open the storeroom door that the voice was behind, to see that-

That it was empty. A phone sat on a table, playing a recording of Frieda's voice. Historia's heart fell.

"No," she breathed. She couldn't believe it.

"Yes," came a voice from behind her. She spun around to see Irine, smiling like a cat who had cornered a mouse. 

"She isn't here," Historia said.

"Nope. Dear sister's just knocked out. You were really scared, it was funny." Irine picked up the phone, and held in front of Historia. "I'm gonna send this to your vamp friends. It'll make this hunt even better."

Historia couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say.

It was a trap. She'd walked right into a trap and now she was going to die for nothing. 

She had to fight back. She couldn't let herself die worthlessly.

Noticing a spot under Irine's arm, she ducked under and made a run for it.

Irine grabbed her arm, and threw her against a mirror. It shattered, and Historia yelped. She put a hand on the back of her head, and it came back bloody.

Irine stood over her, still filming. Her pupils dilated at the smell of blood.

"Tell your _girlfriend_ how much it hurts. Go on, say it."

Historia held her tongue. She wasn't going to give Irine what she wanted.

Irine grabbed her leg, and twisted it. Historia screamed in agony. 

"Say it!" Irine shouted. Historia cried, but said nothing. Even in her hazy vision, she could see a pale blur knock Irine to the ground.

"Historia?" 

Ymir knelt beside her, putting a hand on the side of her face. 

"Ymir? You came after me," she said. 

Ymir nodded. "I wasn't going to leave you to sacrifice yourself." She pressed a kiss to Historia's forehead. "Stay here."

Irine had stood up by this point. Ymir turned around, and grabbed Irine's jacket, preparing to throw her into the mirror. However, Irine took Ymir's arms and tossed her against the window, causing glass shards to fly everywhere. Irine turned back to Historia, grinning.

"Let's spice things up a bit, shall we?" Irine took Historia's arm, and bit it.

The pain was nothing like she had ever felt before. It dwarfed even the broken leg. And then she realised that Irine had injected her venom into Historia's veins.

She couldn't see what was happening in the rest of the studio. Her vision had blurred even further, and Historia could only make out colours and shapes. 

Somebody else joined the fight. They looked - well, they looked like Reiner and Bertholt. They probably were. Somebody came to her side, and she overheard conversation.

"She's going to be changed, I can see, just do it-"

"No, I won't, I can't-"

And something looked like flames. Maybe it was flames. Historia could feel something soft against her arm, and somebody else shouted, and that was the last thing Historia knew.

\--

_Is this heaven? It feels like heaven._

Historia opened her eyes, and knew that she wasn't in heaven. It was just a hospital room. And someone was gently speaking to her. Someone with black hair.

"Frieda?" Historia asked. Her voice was coarse.

"Yeah," Frieda said. She took Historia's hand in hers, and Historia saw that there was no bite mark on her arm. 

"I had an awful dream," Historia said. "What... what happened?"

"When you left Paradis, you came up here. You fell down two flights of stairs and through a window."

"Oh." So that was the story the Fritzes were going with. "Is Ymir here?"

"Your girlfriend? Yeah, she's here. She's asleep."

Historia looked over to where Ymir was positioned on a couch, and smiled. 

"Mom and Dad are here too. And Uri. They're downstairs." Frieda sat up. "I'll go and get them."

She left the room after that.

"So what really happened?" Historia asked. Ymir opened her eyes and strode over to her side. 

"We killed Irine. We had to burn down the studio to get rid of the body. Jakob ran away though. You're safe now."

Ymir stroked the side of her face. 

"No, I mean about the bite," Historia said. "Am I..?"

"I sucked the venom out."

Historia felt mildly disappointed. She had hoped that she'd been turned.

"Thank you for saving me," she said. "I know what you said, about it being hard for vampires to stop after tasting blood. You saved my life."

Ymir smiled. "Don't do anything like that ever again, okay? Next time you try and die a hero's death, I might not show up to save you."

"Hmm." Historia looked up at her. "Can you kiss me?"

Ymir laughed. "I thought you'd never ask."

They were kissing when everyone else came in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again this hasn't been proofread. also we're nearly at the end you guys!


	17. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They think it's over. Historia is alive. Irine is dead. But there are still a few loose ends. Is the story really ever finished?

Historia returned to school in Paradis after the whole tracker debacle. She was the centre of attention after that, what with her broken leg and the fact that she was dating Ymir, the unsociable. Eventually she decided that she _would_ go to prom after all. She'd gone to the secondhand store in town and bought a dress for the dance, one that was light blue and had a ruffled skirt.

She descended the stairs with awkwardness, struggling to climb with the boot on. Ymir was at her side in a flash, helping her down the last few steps.

"You look beautiful," Ymir said. "The dress brings out your eyes."

"Thank you," Historia said. "You look beautiful as well."

Ymir smiled at her, and adjusted her suit jacket. Apparently, she'd had the suit since the 1920's. Historia couldn't disprove it, so it was likely.

"Stay safe," Uri said. He was watching them with mild concern, to which Historia smiled at him.

"We'll be fine," she promised. She knew that her uncle didn't trust Ymir; if her niece had broken up with a girl and run away and her leg was broken and then they were back together, she wouldn't trust her either. 

Ymir helped Historia into her silver car, and they drove to the prom location. It was at a local inn, and when Ymir parked outside in the carpark, Historia gaped at it. It had been decorated with lights everywhere, and other teens milled about outside.

"I'm going to show our tickets," Ymir said, kissing Historia's cheek. Historia smiled, and limped over to a bench, on which she sat. 

Something rustled in the woods behind her, and she jumped. 

"Oh, Eren, thank god," Historia said, putting a hand to her chest. "I thought you were something else."

"Who else would I be?" Eren asked. He sat down next to Historia. She shrugged. She'd been on edge ever since the incident, expecting to see Jakob around every corner. Any light brown hair set her off.

"So have you come to crash the prom, or..?" 

Eren laughed. "No, Levi sent me. He said to give you a message."

"A message?"

"Yeah." Eren dropped his smile. "He wants you to break up with Ymir."

Historia frowned. "What?"

"I know, I know. Don't listen to him, he's a weirdo."

"He must really hate the Fritzes," Historia said. 

Eren laughed again. "Yeah, he has a grudge against them, mainly because of the legend. Superstitious old man."

"Isn't he, what, thirty?" Historia asked.

"Something like that. Your girlfriend's coming."

Eren stood up, and disappeared into the woods.

"What did _he _want?" Ymir asked, venomously. She held out an arm, and Historia took ahold.

"He had a message from his dad," Historia said. "It was... nothing. Don't worry."

Ymir laughed. "Well, I can hardly leave you alone for five minutes before the wolves run in," she said.

They stopped for a photo under the balloon arch, before heading inside. It looked even better inside than outside, and that was saying something. Historia spied her friends - Marco and Jean were dancing awkwardly together, Reiner was talking to Connie and Sasha by the DJ's table, Bertholt standing behind him, waiting to get him alone, and Annie sat in the corner where none of the strobe lights reached her. A girl from Historia's economics class was talking her ear off.

"Would you like to dance?" Ymir asked. 

"Oh, sure," she said. Ymir led her outside, to a rotunda where several other couples were. 

"It's twilight," Historia noted. 

"The saddest time of day," Ymir added.

"But also the prettiest. Even if the day ends, at least it goes out in a good way."

They danced for a while, listening to the music. 

"Back when I was dying, at the studio," Historia said quietly, "Reiner said something. At least, I think it was him. He said something like, "she's going to become one anyway, I've seen it." Does that mean..."

Ymir rolled her eyes. "Reiner's visions are subjective. They change based on what you decide."

"And I've decided that I want to be with you," Historia said. "Forever."

Ymir looked her in the eye, playfulness gone. "You want me to turn you, now?"

Historia nodded. She bared her neck, and Ymir moved in, mouth close, and planted a kiss there. 

Historia looked at her, annoyed. Ymir laughed. 

"What? You can't seriously believe I would change you if I had a choice, would you?" 

"I want to be by your side," Historia said.

"As a monster? Is that what you want?"

'Monster' wasn't the word Historia had been thinking of. "I love you."

"And I love you too," Ymir said. "Which is why I can't do this to you. You don't want eternal damnation."

"That's a fancy word," Historia teased. Ymir rolled her eyes again. 

"Come on, let's go get punch."

Historia followed her inside. "I thought vampires couldn't drink non-blood drinks?"

Ymir laughed at the question, holding Historia's hand as they walked inside. 

Neither saw the brown haired boy watching them from the window of the inn. Neither saw Jakob turn from the window, grinning. Neither saw him walk downstairs, neither heard him plot his revenge. Neither knew what he was planning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The New Moon AU will be up soon! I'm scheduling it for the 25th of December (Christmas day). But thank you guys so much for all the kudos and comments on this fic, I appreciate them all so much, and I can't wait to see you in the next part! :)


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